Tuesday, November 13, 2007

You Asked For Charlie, You Got It!!!



As many of you know, we worship Charlie. I think he could easily be compared to any child out there...and in a few ways even better. I know everyone talks about the family pet as if they really are a member of the family. They tend to take on very distinct personalities, no matter how annoying or make huge messes still seem to be so cute, and they are always missed when away. Animals have a soft spot in any normal human's heart. They are here to make us laugh and to help us cry. Leah is called Mom and I am called Dad, we don't have any kids, we have Charlie. Charlie has gone everywhere with us since the day we got him. At the time, Paris Hilton was setting an important precedent in the world with her "purse" dogs. Naturally, Leah picked up on that realizing Charlie was the right size(when he was young). Three days after we got him, we took him on a bike ride. He was stuffed down my jacket with his head poking out and his infamous ears hitting me in face. He went bowling, to the store, to the movies(he barked and growled at Darth Vader's first appearance in Star Wars), to plays, etc. Anywhere we felt we had a good chance of not getting caught, Charlie was there. Lucky for us, we can play all this off as training. Little did we know of what he was capable of. He was definatly loved as the average dog is, despite everything that he ruined when he was teething. Probably a bit spoiled. But now, he deserves every bit of it. One year and four months ago, Charlie went to doggy bootcamp to become a service animal for Leah. When Leah started having seizures we noticed that Charlie would behave oddly right before and during any episode. We researched service animals and found that some dogs are capable of sensing a seizure before they actually happen, sometimes 45 minutes before. We also found at disability group in Salt Lake that allows you to train your own dog. What a remarkable possibility to be warned that a seizure is imminent! When we walked into class the first day, we were snickered at. We didnt have the standard Golden Retriever or Labrador. We had Charlie, a miniature pinscher, weighing in at 12 pounds and a foot and half tall, four long skinny legs and huge goofy ears. Like most pets Charlie took on the personality of his owner, Leah. Fiesty and competitive. He wasnt intimidated by the bigger dogs and let them know it. He still has a problem with other dogs sniffing his butt, he hates it. He immediatly outperformed all the other dogs and turned a two year service dog training course into one year time. He has never missed one of Leah's seizures and very astute at his job. So congratulations to Charlie for officially receiving his Service Dog license!!

19 comments:

Kash said...

Paul what's up man. I haven't talked to you in a while. Cara and I moved out to Memphis for optometry school. I saw your little sis at my brothers wedding and told her to tell you what up. Hope everything is going well for your guys. Instead of a dog we have a persian cat, Chunky(defininately not a service animal in any way, but still fun to have around). Drop me a line.

The Watkins Family said...

Hooray for Charlie. Hooray for the Stones still being alive. As your blog hasn't been updated for a while I was all a tizy as to what became of you two. You have a cute dog.

Eli

Katie said...

seriously- hooray for the stones still being alive! we miss talking to you guys and we need to get together for dinner soon!
and hooray for charlie- that is amazing that he is able to help leah so much. we hope all is well for you!

Charie and Jonathan Francom said...

So glad to see you are posting a little! That is incredible about Charlie! I have never heard about anything like that. What a great blessing to have him around. You all look great and we love and miss you! No wonder Leah and him has a special bond!

The Watkins Family said...

Great post. We had to update my blog which has caused the URL to it to become corrupted (i.e. the link to our site from your site no longer works). Change it to web.mac.com/watkinses (that is of course if you still want us linked to your site)

Thanks

Steph and Eli

The Jatens said...

Great blog. We'll have to get together some time. (Besides running into eachother in Albertsons.) Check out our blog. http://thejatenfamily.blogspot.com
Ash

Justin and Tiffany Walker said...

Hi guys!! We miss you! I just checked out your blog for the first time and LOVE it! Puppy is sooo cute. I think he wants to come to Colorado to hang out. We could take a trip to Breckenridge again...I know it's tempting. Keep in touch!

Lisa said...

Paul I found your blog through Eli Watkins blog. It's fun to see the things you've been up to. I love the dog! E-mail me at lisa_sut@yahoo.com and I'll send you a link to Luke and my blog. Good to "see" you and your wife!
Lisa (Parkinson) Sutton

ashley said...

Paul! I haven't seen you FOREVER! I was blog lurking and came accross your sisters blog...and that led me to yours. I just wanted to say that your little boy is soo cute! I know how special animals become...we have 3 dogs! Haha. Well I'll tell Druz that I found you on here, and maybe that will prompt him to start bolgging too (doubt it tho). Good to find you, write back sometime if you want.

Ashley (Hegsted) McGavin

Shawni said...

Leah,

I totally found your blog by accident . I am so glad that I did. I hope you don't mind me snooping around. I love seeing pics of you and your hubby. You look as amazing as always!

Love, Shawni

CHILI said...

Sooo, I might be a stalker, but I might just be an old friend who wanted to say hi. You are still cute as ever, and am very glad to see you have a dog, and what an amazing animal to have. Holy crap I am sorry about the seizures but what an awesome dog. I hope you are doing well, and are loving your life. You still inspire me, and wish I could sing like you. Whit

cort said...

Hi I know you don't know me but I used to be Paul's BOYFRIEND in High school and I want him back. He likes dudes not babes.
love
cortney

Julie Knowlton said...

Leah Stone! This is Julie (Dana) Knowlton. I haven't talked to you for quite some time. And apparently you have not updated your blog in a while, but you guys look great! :)

www.juliganknowlton.blogspot.com

jen said...

Leah...what are you doing you sexy woman!! It's Jen Chapman!! woo-woo!! LoL!! I found you through Julie & I'm not going to apologize for blog stalking! ;) I haven't see you forever but I sure miss your butt!! Ok and good job Charlie, holy crap what would it be like to have a smart dog...ours barely knows what "come" means! Well you have to e-mail me so I can add you b/c we are private...brownsuga6702@comcast.net So glad we can keep in touch...you two look great!!

Anonymous said...

Interesting to know.

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